


Breezeblocks

by Paech



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternia, F/M, Gen, Gift Fic, Pale-Red Vacillation, commission for grub nips awareness fund, tough lusus love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:41:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22428007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paech/pseuds/Paech
Summary: A violetblood should be sure of their place, but it's hard to know where even with a persistently pushy lusus and a supportive olive mutant by your side.
Relationships: Original Troll Character(s)/Original Troll Character(s) (Homestuck)
Kudos: 1





	Breezeblocks

_The heavy thuds of a dangered heart pounded in her ears, shoulder blades locked together with a frozen hapless defense pose. Her airway felt knitted closed, a rare puff of breath skipping out between her trembling lips and piercing her lungs with sharp cold salty air. Cerulean and yellow cornered at her left and right, reeling themselves in without a strike of cowardice of being near a violetblood; of course, not when she herself expressed a wide eyed look similar to an anxious grub opening its eyes for the first time._

_Helsea whipped her head back, her lusus nearby but feeling so distant as she stared on at her to beckon her. Shoes scraped against the ground before she could turn her attention back to the two trolls; a dwindling realization stained her mind when flashing psiionic lights and honed grins were all she can see, maybe she was just a grub still._

~

Careful fingers tracing over her dark purple rash captured Helsea back in the present, above the Alternian water and perched on a hill populated with a small blue tree and breezy air. When her pupils focused up at the soft face leaning over her, Helsea relaxed her muscles, finding the overtly familiar tufts of bird locks and pairs of wing-shaped horns her cherished palemate Xackri adorned to be the most comforting sight. 

He rubbed his thumb gently over Helsea's fresh injury, the rash clearly ready to burst any second with a spew of purple. He furrowed his brows, holding Helsea's head closer to his chest. 

"It doesn't hurt?" he asked worriedly, shifting his gaze from her rash to her eyes. Helsea took a moment to respond, lightly shaking her head as an answer. 

The olive mutant arched a brow, studying the injury for another minute before kissing it for good measure. Helsea sat up from her lying position, flushed and looking onward at the seemingly endless stretch of ocean, where a few seadweller heads bobbed up to the surface and then diving back in.

"You haven't told me where you got that injury yet." Xackri piped up, observing as the violetblood swiveled her fins down in a docile look. Helsea clasped her hands together, tilting her head a little to the side. Xackri scooted closer to her side, keeping a good watch on the way her expression turned and changed. 

Helsea ghosted her finger pads over the ripe rash, cautious to put any pressure but enough to see if the mark on her cheek really did sting. "It was a fight."

Xackri analyzed the vague answer in a short matter of time, having known his moirail/matesprit for sweeps now, she wouldn't intentionally throw herself into a dangerous situation with any being; even a snappy wiggler that seemed persistent on showcasing all its teeth. The only occasions the anxious violetblood would wound up in a fight was...

"I think it's about time you headed back to your hive," Xackri suggested, hefting himself off the ground and extending a hand to her. "My lusus is gonna start losing his feathers if I'm out any longer."

Helsea gave a light smile, grabbing his hand securely before standing up, not allowing a moment to disconnect their hands. 

"I'll take you home first, we can take the short cut." Xackri offered, trudging with Helsea back into the school of trees. She tightened her hold on Xackri's hand, shaking her head quickly. 

"But what if something happens to you? It's not safe for a sole mutant troll to walk around in open space," Helsea said, stressing and straining her nerves. "I'm a highblood, I'm supposed to protect you." 

"It's not your duty to protect me because of your caste, pale aside, especially not when you can't even defend yourself." Xackri pointed out, squeezing her hand reassuringly. 

"That's exactly why," Helsea stated lowly, using her other hand to clutch onto her own shirt. "I want to be a bold enough violet to defend my _own_ quadrantmate."

Xackri shrugged his shoulders casually, kissing the top of her head with the sounds of bird lusii echoing above them and drifting through the sky. "You're more than enough violet for me."

Purple painted Helsea's face once more, flattery and adoration easily dominating the gnawing anxiety creeping on her back. The high pitch sounds of the feathery lusii grew louder, a little closer almost, causing Helsea to reflexively prick down her fins and cover them with her palms. Xackri looked over at her curiously. 

"I hate it when they nip at my fins," Helsea cringed, observing the flock of white surf around their heads. "The last time one flew down and did so, my lusus almost mauled one."

Xackri widened his eyes comedically, snorts trickling out of him. He reached up and laid a hand on one of her horns, bringing it to Helsea's attention. 

"I think it's your horns they're after, babe, you know how much they like seabeasts." Xackri giggled, balancing two fingers on the sharp pointed edges, of what greatly resembled screaming fishes. 

Helsea stuck out her tongue in displeasure. "Kinda bothersome lusii, more like."

"Hey, I thought you liked feathered beasts," Xackri pulled an exaggerated as possible offended frown, then using a hand to hold his forehead. Helsea crinkled her brows un-amusingly

"My own violet hates me because of stereotypes, my bloodpusher!" He halted in his steps for dramatic effect, earning Helsea to move her head in a generic ' _oh, what am I ever going to do with you'_ nod. Suddenly, without warning, Helsea was haphazardly lifted just a few inches off the ground, arms locked tightly around her waist. 

Xackri squawked rhythmically, dancing his feet around the area with no directions and precautions. Helsea squeaked out and held onto his large horns, nearly losing balance completely by that action with a little stumble. 

Laughter bubbled up from Helsea, intermingling with the loud caws her quadrantmate proudly sounded off, soon drowning out and giving away to laughs of his own. Helsea rested her chin between his horns and on top of his gray beanie, small snickering slipping past every few seconds until her eyes landed ahead towards what appeared to be the short cut Xackri mentioned. 

A steady log laid across from where they stood on the grassy knoll, acting as a bridge way to other side of the cliff, with no walls or ground to keep them from falling into the depth below. Helsea tugged gently at Xackri's horn, vocal-lessly alerting to him to lower her down. 

"Xackri..." she started, pointing towards the log bridge with uncertainty and visible anxiety spiking up in her system. Xackri grasped onto her hand immediately, soothingly running his thumb over the back of her palm and papping her cheek. It took more than a minute for Helsea to recollect, but Xackri didn't mind the least, so he continued his comforting ministrations with added tender kisses to her forehead. 

"Just hold onto me, I've crossed this before, it's easier than it seems." he murmured, ceasing his paps to plant a kiss to her mouth. 

A pause hung over their heads, Helsea giving a small, trusting nod in return and sliding her arm across his shoulders. 

Sauntering over to the blue bark, making sure his quadrantmate's hold was secured, Xackri stepped a heavy foot onto the log. Leisurely, he moved in short steps in order for Helsea to perch her shoes on the bridge, shutting her eyes without a second thought to follow. Her claws dug into the cotton of his sweater, pressing half of her weight onto the mutant as familiar sounds of the sea waves hitting against one another and rebounding bird lusii caws filled her ears. 

Helsea decided on a whim to focus her attention on those instead of the light feeling in her legs, salt wavering beneath her nose and putting her into a trance in her imagination, something to ground her and comb back her flaring nerves. 

When her foot suddenly fell down and momentarily catched onto a firm floor, Helsea peeked open her screwed shut eyes, the heavy weight in her gut that seemed close to travel to her throat dissipating once she glimpsed at Xackri's warm smile. 

~

_Clack clack._

Helsea skillfully maneuvered her knitting needles into the purple wool, eyes trained on the sharp ends like they were the only thing she saw. A trail of dark purple cloth ran from her lap to a few inches away from her, sitting idly on the floor while the seadweller worked. Knitting, as she found out, proved to be a suitable way to calm down her anxious thoughts and feelings; just watching the needles craft together in a melodic way lulled her. 

Helsea breathed in softly, turning her head to the side and reaching for olive wool. As she did so, her injury sparked a tad of minute-pain, causing her hand to slap over the rash to accommodate and dropping the knitting. It clattered noisily, needles tangling up in the cloth.

Paw steps resounded in her hive, Helsea quickly looking up and finding her lusus' blank eyes on her, standing just a few meters from her seadweller. Helsea flinched, trying to decode any disgruntled looks, any slight wrinkles and stern glare in her gaze. Instead, she only just...looked. Like as if she didn't recognize the seadweller in front of her. Helsea wouldn't have been surprised if so; especially not after today.

Droplets of sweat ran down her face, swallowing thickly with zeroed in eyes to follow every move her lusus made. Her white face may have been free of any emotions, but her stance and the air Helsea detected just felt disappointment. 

All of a sudden, her lusus opted to slither and curl up around her, almost completely encompassing the violetblood and drowning her in white. 

Helsea stared absently at her, leisurely leaning a hand to place on her snout, provoking a quiet murr from her lusus. Was this an apology? 

Her lusus began nosing her side, then settled her head on her lap. A gentle smile painted Helsea's face, continuing to stroke her muzzle and getting back to work on her knitting in the comfortable silence.

~

Once her lusus heard about an aggressive tealblood on loose, scavenging the streets with nothing but a tank top, ripped shorts, and a dusty fanny pack along a thirst for another troll's blood, she scanned for the particular crazed tealblood and went ahead and pushed Helsea directly into their range when she detected them near the waters.

Helsea immediately gaped, instinctively taking large steps back until her lusus forcefully huffed her back in. The tealblood had their claws pointed and ready to go, pupils minimized so small and predatory. In their hand, they held a round object, glowering at Helsea and just standing still for a moment. The sole stance they presented was enough to intimidate her and beg to go back to her hive. Something dropped in her stomach, sudden bile stinging at the back of her throat like bees waiting to erupt from the seconds the intensity lounged on. 

The tealblood obviously wasn't all there mentally, whether or not the troll planned to pull off her arms clean, Helsea didn't want to hurt them at all. 

Helsea's chest tightened, her legs feeling like jelly and preparing to fall at any given moment. In the blink of an eye, the long gone-sensible troll reeled back their arm, before throwing the object towards her. 

When the object bounced off the ground and into the air, it exploded into a flurry of dark purple, marbling Helsea's clothes and splattering a dot on her face. That was it? 

She quickly examined the goop, rubbing it between her fingers with a tilt of her head. That was it; or so she thought, at least. 

Attempting to move, her shoes didn't obey, rather felt glued to the ground. She tried once again, twice, her eyes growing as wide as saucers when the realization of the object was more than just ringing in her ears and getting her clothes dirty. 

Deadpanning and serious, the troll trudged ahead towards her, the compacted bile in her throat threatening to spill with each step they took as light purple dollops manifested in the corner of her eyes. 

Without thinking; without listening to her lusus' cries, sans looking at the purpleblood that was hellbent on slicing her like grubloaf, Helsea used every single bit of her highblood strength, small or otherwise, she _pulled_ her shoes away from the mass, leaving stringy lines of disgusting purple. She could feel a twinge snap in her leg, but it didn't matter as soon as her feet were freed from the mass, nearly losing her balance when there was no force holding her down anymore. 

Helsea swiftly fled from the scene, her stomach churning irritably. She didn't bother to swipe away the small pricks of tears that slid down, or worry of the residue left on the bottom of her shoes that matted a few drops on the ground. Everything felt numb, but simultaneously it hurt. Where was she even going? 

She didn't exactly plan where to rush over to in such a frightened frenzy, her mind was buzzing and couldn't land on one simple thought, but apparently her senses were guiding her when she sprinted to a dead-end ledge. 

Helsea dropped to her knees, carefully peeking over the ledge despite her shaking state. There, on the cliffside, she glimpsed at a nest shaped hive, where a familiar bird lusus rested vertically in the open view and a troll, who seemed so tiny at the distance between them, was getting around. Tranquility surged throughout her.

"Xackri!" she yelled down for his attention, which successfully gained it when the mutant lifted his head up along with his lusus. He arched a confused eyebrow when he blocked the sun with his hand to clearly see his seadweller.

"Helsea?"

Padding down the hall of her quadrantmate's hive, Xackri couldn't help but fret at her side, clutching onto her jacket with urgency and trying to keep his fussing to a minimum, as to assist with her soothing her startled behavior. The strange goop must've been dried by now, though, and stapled the splotches into her jacket. Thankfully the purple spots didn't belong to her veins, or else the mutant would've broken out into a revenge mindset. He gripped her hand, leading her to a fairly small area where pillows toppled over each other and acted as that of a couch. 

Helsea plopped down onto the mountains of lush pillows, Xackri following suit and brushing her hair back. 

"It was your lusus again, wasn't it?" he asked, tone patient. 

The violetblood sulked, nodding weakly. Xackri bit his lip, taking a moment to form appropriate words and sentences. He never did quite understand Helsea's relationship with her lusus, only that she was a little affirmative with her ideals of Helsea molding into what every highblood ought to be when they grew; a fearless, hefty troll with a cold, menacing attitude that had no issues in acting how they _should_ be. 

What with Xackri already getting sweeps to know her and even smearing through two quadrant, Helsea was barely any of those traits. She'd never be able to exactly fit into those roles; but that was okay, for the very least it was to Xackri and that was all that mattered. It just simply wasn't like her to not be sweet and trace of aggression, whether it was what her lusus strived for, Xackri only wanted _herself_.

"I'm a joke for a violet," Helsea muttered, looking down at her fingers. She curled them together, fins swiveling down. "Whoever heard of a highblood running away from a teal?!"

"Because you're not there to start fights, Helsea." Xackri said, carding his fingers through her strands of hair, massaging the area around her horns.

It was quiet for a mere second, Helsea's posture shifting into a guilty carry. "They weren't stable either, it wouldn't have been fair anyway, even if I was the troll my lusus imagined."

Xackri couldn't culminate of what to say, chewing at his lip lightly. He applied his hand to her cheek, removing it from its place on her hair, and languidly stroked all the way to her fins. It managed to quill Helsea just a tad, still looking miserably at the floor. 

The mutant wished he knew the right, soothing words to use for the situation, to understand her relationship with her lusus a little more and assist with Helsea's issues. Alas, he was merely an olive; not even an ordinary one at that, unless the culling of mutated trolls finally seized. His risky blood caused his own lusus to protect him more, always making sure he was safe in the hive (but then sneaking out later on, much to his dismay), everything was opposed to the way Helsea was. 

Though that wasn't going to stop Xackri from being there for her. 

With a quick tug and pull, Xackri stretched his arms over Helsea's waist securely and rested his chin atop her smooth hair, which in turn burrowed her face into the mutant's chest. Helsea didn't waste a second to wrap her arms around her quadrantmate, squeezing him so tightly like she had to imitate as a chain or else she'd float off the ground. 

Xackri planted feather-light kisses on her horns, then shifting to her hair and her fins. Facing her lusus' disappointed frown and eyes didn't matter as much anymore, Helsea found, especially not when she was safe and curled in Xackri's arms, in his calm hive that was punctuated by bird hums and melodic chirps. 

At this point, Helsea's drowsiness slowly began pushing her into the throes of sleep. Xackri's voice sounded so incredibly distant, but she could just make out a couple of words and pauses, asking her if she wanted to sleep in his recuperacoon or needed fresh clothes. 

Helsea only responded with a tired, incomprehensible murmur as she leaned all her weight onto the mutant, hurriedly collapsing into deep asleep. Xackri shook his head with a smile, papping her back gently for a few short moments.

~

Dabbing the tip of the thin paint brush into a dark red container, the bristles hovered elegantly over blank paper, stroking it inside the thick black lines that were previously drawn. 

Helsea waved down the red paint until it began fading, requiring more new paint ink. Anticipated, her palmhusk soundly buzzed in her jacket's pocket, surely a text from her moirail/matesprit. 

She seized the brush and plopped it into one of the glasses of paint. 

Before she could fish out her device, the hood of her jacket suddenly _lifted_ up, dangling the violetblood in the air like a squirming cat. 

Helsea's heart thrummed in her chest, realizing what was unrolling and wriggling hastily, attempting to plead. With the hood in her maw, her lusus dragged the highblood out of their hive and padded to her planned directions, only earning the panic to surge strongly throughout Helsea and cause another stomach churn, dangerously anxious to where she was forcefully being taken to.

Her mouth went wholly dry when an untamed thylacine lusus came into view, sporting white fur as sharp as needles and naturally asserted towards the sky. Its muzzle was drooping with sticky foam, folding back its two sets of ears and bulking up when it noticed the sudden intruders. 

Helsea couldn't register her position as she was thrown into the scene, scrambling onto her feet but then slammed back down on the ground by the force of the wild lusii's lengthened tail. All the air got punched out of Helsea's lungs, quickly attempting to stand right back up. 

She stared at the lusus lumbering in, snarling, then looked over at other lusii that watched at the sidelines. 

In that blank look she adorned, behind the needless actions she performed to improve her troll's strength and courage, there was concern dressed with love, blanketed by everything she did and what she merely thought would be good for Helsea, out of ignorance. 

Helsea's breathing pattern fell into a deep pace, clenching her fists with her pants tangled up in her palms. 

With her knees scraped, and a little wobbly, Helsea lifted herself up, standing with a limp. There was no way she would be able to defeat the wild lusii, that's for sure, but perhaps there was a chance to pacify it?

Helsea gulped, taking a stance and observing its steady steps. The lusus froze for a moment, burning their eyes on Helsea. 

In a swift movement, the lusus lunged itself towards Helsea, the violetblood squeaking before dodging to the side. It quickly followed her tracks, though, snapping its teeth at her arm and managing to seize it, digging its canines through her jacket cloth and into her skin. Helsea yelled, retaliating by kicking her shoes against its chest and then swiping her claws across one of its four ears. 

It withdrew immediately, leaving her sleeve slightly drenched in spit and violet and littered with thin sliced open wounds. Helsea receded back with stumbling moves, eventually falling back due to a misstep and now cowering on the floor, looking like vulnerable prey for the lusus. Helsea's own guardian started emitting echoing noises of encouragement, but she was already out of it, her eyes glazed and locking with her demise as the lusus crawled over to her. Her stomach and heart leaped into her throat, any thoughts in her head processing halted and felt completely frozen. It widened its mouth, preparing to feed on her as it inched closer.

Until -

_"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"_

Two wing sculpted horns knocked Helsea out of her dazed state, a flash of black and purple crossed her vision, along with a dual of glinting swords she's seen a couple of times before. Helsea snapped her eyes wide. 

Xackri was latched on to the fur of the untamed lusii's back like an anchor, refusing to let go as it even began shaking wildly to throw off his balance, hurling its back directly into the air. He took advantage of the position though, and pierced a sword cleanly through its third ear, which caused it to reflexively knock off Xackri on a whim. 

As soon as Xackri fell onto the ground, Helsea decided to take it upon herself and help - but before she could even set a foot towards his direction, she was grasped back into a familiar maw, retrieving her away promptly from the fight's range. 

Helsea yelped out, reaching her hands out for Xackri while he attempted to stand back up, clasping his swords handles. And that was the last she saw of the mutant in that moment before disappearing.

She desperately searched for her palmhusk when she arrived back at her hive, checking her messages from Xackri once she found it near her abandoned painting session, but was fearfully fruitless.

Helsea settled heavily into worry mode, curling her fingers tightly around the device with trembling tears, colored a pale shade of violet. 

Helsea made a turn back to the hive's entrance, but to no avail, as her lusus swiftly blocked her way and made a throaty noise that signified as a 'no'. She was too weak to protest, especially after combating with a vicious creature and having her arm chewed on for a short period, but she was simultaneously too sick with worry to just recline and not think about what was possibly happening to Xackri. 

The stinging reality of her wounds on her arm took away her focus however, her claws carefully gripping her arm with caution. Perhaps, before anything else, she should tend to this first. 

But as she stitched and securely wrapped the injuries, her mind kept drifting off to the status of her quadrantmate. _'Is he hurt? Did he escape when I wasn't there anymore? Is he bleeding out right now?!'_

"Xackri..." Helsea whispered helplessly under her breath, scrolling down her text history with the mutant and still finding no new messages. An hour had passed already, setting nearly into night. 

The slime in her recuperacoon was already warmed to room temperature, sleep pulled at her eyelids and begged to be shut, but Helsea shook her mind awake. 

Another half hour trotted by, still no new received messages from the mutant. Her heart thudded languidly, but had a heavy drop to it each time. She didn't even know if her lusus was still blocking the entranceway, but her eyes were stapled on her screen, too far gone to look up. 

The need for sleep came rolling by another minute or so, racking her body with strong drowsiness that it was too hard to disregard. 

_'I might as well just go to sleep now...'_ Helsea thought, clutching onto her phone as she picked herself up. _' Or I'll end up passing out on the floor, uncomfortably so.'_

She shuffled over to her recuperacoon, testing with a finger to see if the slime needed to be adjusted before dipping in. Heated pudding devoured her finger, the comfortable warmth luring her in as she dipped her whole hand into the sopor slime and spread out her fingers. Determining the slime was good enough to slumber in, she began slipping off her shoes. 

But as she shrugged her jacket, a dull buzzing sound - a _sound!_ \- ringed throughout her hive and paused the violetblood, the jacket falling pathetically to the floor with a _thump._

Helsea stared at her palmhusk resting in her non-green painted hand, her breathing low as possible to hear, and to wait, for another noise. 

Carefully, Helsea turned on her device, swallowing dryly while she pulled up her contacts. She wanted to sob - or laugh in delight, or just _something._

 _'Zorry if I kept you waiting and panicked you'_ it read, buzzing in her hand again as a second text appeared. _'I'm outzide your hive, babe_ ' and that was that. 

Helsea whisked her legs over to the free entrance, hurling herself outside and earning cool salty air to brush her face, swaying a strand through the wind. 

Helsea scanned her surroundings quickly, her breath picking up when a soft smile came into her view and caused her heart to flutter. 

There wasn't a second in that moment where the distance separating the two trolls lasted; Helsea barreled into Xackri, burying her nose into his shoulder and breathing in a gentle scent of pines, relief washing over and nearly making her fall over. 

Xackri emitted a snigger in response, holding her cheek in his hand and grazing her fin with other. 

"How did - what happened, I-" Helsea stumbled on her words, small tears of joy beginning to well up while she carded her fingers through his feathered hair.

"TielDad rescued me before the wild lusus could even maul me, he already sensed what might've been happening when he saw me leave in a hurry," Xackri answered, giving a tiny grin. "I'm just glad you're safe, 'Sea."

Then, a reminder clicked in Helsea, unlocking her squeezing grasp on her quadrantmate's shirt. 

"Wait here! I knitted something for you." Helsea said, rushing back off into her hive. It took only six seconds until Helsea dashed out, a cloth wrapped in her arms. 

She held up the item by the end of the corners, showcasing what seemed like a dark purple cape designed with olive green hearts and diamonds, then to Xackri's surprise, a hoodie flopped down. 

Helsea lowered down the gift so her face was visible again, giving a shy gesture. 

"I made it for your flarping sessions, or whenever you want to wear it," Helsea said. "I'm glad I was able to give it to you instead of draping it over your corpse."

Xackri smiled, taking the clothing into his own hold and hurriedly putting it on, tying the strings dangling on the sides of his neck and getting a better look at the cape half as he lifted it. 

"Helsea, this is amazing!" he boasted proudly, reeling the seadweller back into his arms, their laughter intermingling. Xackri kissed her shortly, squishing both sides of her face as giggles poured out of Helsea in an uncontrollable, delighted fit. 

Even if Helsea still had the personality of a timid grub, she still had her mutant pasted right by her, uncaring about her caste level and handing her unconditional affection that blended in pink and red.


End file.
